Unusual track by Emirates flight

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eracode

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#304682 27-May-2023 22:34

We have some rellies on Emirates EK449 which left Auckland for Dubai around 8:30 pm tonight. We have done this flight many times and it has always flown ~NW across the Tasman to cross Australia over Brisbane.

I just looked at their flight on FR24 - it’s been going nearly two hours - and it’s tracking ~SW, directly towards Tasmania. It’s now 3/4 of the way to Tasmania. Strikes me as very interesting - if not odd.

I wondered if it was something to do with weather conditions on the usual track. IANA meteorologist but can’t see anything on weather maps that might be relevant. Maybe it’s something to do with avoiding or taking advantage of jet streams - but if that’s the case, it must be very significant because they’re a long off the usual track and increasing as time passes.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Linux

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#3080179 27-May-2023 23:03

Pilot taking a detour sick of the same views! lol

eracode

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#3080185 28-May-2023 00:17

They overflew Tasmania and have now started to track more towards Dubai. It’s a 17+ hour flight and now, nearly four hours after departure, they’re much further from Dubai than they would have been on the usual track. However ETA has not materially changed.

Must have something to do with jet streams.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

sidefx

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#3080187 28-May-2023 06:53

Maybe something to do with avoiding this and/or getting some tailwind from it? IANAM or pilot either so total guess lol

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eracode

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#3080192 28-May-2023 07:42

A couple of hours ago it was half-way through the flight. The track had gone over Tasmania, west across the Great Australian Bight, then turned ~NW at the SW corner of Australia, and was ~700 km west of Perth out over the Indian Ocean, heading towards Madagascar.

Looked again just now and EK449 is no longer showing on FR24. I have a FR24 filter set to show only Emirates flights. Other Emirates flights in that area, that I noticed earlier, are still showing.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

rscole86

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#3080196 28-May-2023 08:03

Do they still appear when they're out of range of ADS receivers?

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3080198 28-May-2023 08:08

The route may not be the typical one flown, but it'll be due to the weather conditions. The lack of tracking was due to the flight being out of range for any ADS-B trackers.

When they launched direct flights to Dubai, there was a NZ Herald article indicating they choose the optimal route two hours hours before departure, and can update the plan en route.

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Senecio

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#3080199 28-May-2023 08:12

Unusual to take that route going from East to West but not unusual in the other direction. I've flown Dubai to Brisbane/Auckland on numerous occasions. Most of the time we crossed over Western Australia between Port Headland and Exmouth. One time we flew south of Perth, along the bite and back up to Brisbane. At one point we hit a ground speed of 1,155kph (air speed 840kph with a 360kph tail wind!). Despite the longer distance we landed in Brisbane over 90mins early on a 14hr flight.

k1w1k1d

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#3080274 28-May-2023 10:57

I see it is back on Flightradar.

stick

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#3080285 28-May-2023 11:32

rscole86: Do they still appear when they're out of range of ADS receivers?

They disappear if out of ADS-B range for more than two hours

geek3001

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#3080298 28-May-2023 12:19

Flight track will be to take advantage of the best winds etc, en route, I think airlines refer to this Flextracking or similar.

Retrieving this flight's flight plan https://flightaware.com and then feeding the plan into https://flightplandatabase.com and plotting it yields this track overall:

If pasting the image does not work, the plotted flight path and other info is available via https://flightplandatabase.com/plan/6606562

Jase2985

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#3080301 28-May-2023 12:34

there is maybe 300km difference in the direct route from NZ to Dubai vs the southerly route over Tasmania, any time lost in the extra distance can be made up in the better weather conditions.

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Oblivian

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#3080418 28-May-2023 18:43

rscole86: Do they still appear when they're out of range of ADS receivers?

Outside of land based, they only do if they're actively uploading to ImarSat ADSC and subbed to the region. In general tasman is covered, changes to a blue icon.

hairy1

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#3080496 28-May-2023 21:59

To greatly simplify the flight planning process:

The first thing you have to look at is the Great Circle track. This is the shortest track between two points on the globe. Due to map projections this won't be a straight line. Here is AKL-DBX

GRIB winds are added to the route and the weight of the aircraft will determine the altitude and wind that affects the flight.

There are also other considerations such as distance from suitable airports en-route but that is another story.

Pretty much every flight will be planned to be the most efficient route to minimise fuel burnt. A Cost Index is used to trade off speed for fuel economy. A high cost index may be used if the aircraft is running late but this will cost more fuel.

Planning a flight without sticking to designated tracks is called a User Preferred Route (UPR)

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.